History of Volleyball 1990-1994

The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) volleyball program was established when the men��?s programme commenced in Sydney as a joint venture of the AIS, the NSW Department of Sport, Recreation and Racing, and the Australian Volleyball Federation. There was a lot of work to do, with the team ranked only 10^th in the Asian zone.

Scholarship holders at the AIS were then members of the National Senior Men��?s Team (Team Australia). During the year, this team won the Tasman Cup, the Oceania Championships and the Mizuno Cup.

A junior grade was introduced to the National Schools Cup in Canberra and attracted more than 60 teams, effectively doubling the size of the tournament.

The AIS men��?s team achieved Australia��?s first ever wins over Asia��?s "Big Three" by defeating China and Korea and winning the Asia Pacific Cup in Japan. The National senior men��?s team were all scholarship holders with the AIS programme by this time.

The men's team was placed fourth at the 1991 Asian Championships in Perth and won the Gold Medal at the Oceania Championships. The Asian ranking qualified Australia to continue in the Olympic qualifying tournaments and although the team was eliminated in the next round, it was the best international result for Australia to date.

Australia (Bondi Beach) and Spain hosted FIVB beach volleyball events for the first time.

The Australian men��?s team missed out on qualifying for the Olympics, but were rated in the top eighteen in the world. The team won the Tasman Cup and the Oceania Championships and split the Australian Cup series with the Japanese team.

Australian Volleyball Magazine is published out of New South Wales as the official magazine of the Australian Volleyball Federation (AVF) and becomes the country's first dedicated volleyball magazine.

The AIS women��?s volleyball programme began in Perth on July 1, 1993, under a joint arrangement with Volleyball Australia and was co-sponsored by the AIS and the Western Australian Ministry of Sport and Recreation.

In December 1992, a training camp was held at the NSW Institute of Sport complex at Narrabeen in Syndey to select the final cut of the Inaugural National Women's Volleyball Squad. Head Coach of the new team was Dr Blase Czerniakowski.

The players that comprised the Womens Inaugural AIS Volleyball Team Australia were:

• Sally Bacon (Sydney, NSW)
• Alison Brown (Mornington, Vic)
• Alison Diggle (Mildura, Vic)
• Patrizia Giglietti (Sydney, NSW)
• Annette Huygens-Tholen (Brisbane, Qld)
• Pauline Manser (Perth, WA)
• Kerry Pottharst (Adelaide, SA)
• Janet Schloss (Perth, WA)
• Debbie Vokes (Melbourne, Vic)
• Chris Wilson (Perth, WA)
• Lisa Willcocks (Perth, WA)

Joining the programme in March were:

Based at Perth's Superdrome, the Volleyball Team Australia Women defeated Thailand and New Zealand and tied with Taipai in competition. At the Asian Senior Championships in China this team was defeated by Korea and Kazakhstan and defeated Hong Kong and Sri Lanka.

The Australian women's team competed at the World Championship Qualification Tournament in Japan and were defeated by Japan and Kazakhstan.

The Volleyball Team Australia Men defeated Argentina in the inaugural Aerolineus Argentinas Cup, retained the Tasman Cup, but lost the Australia Korea Cup. The major competitive objective of 1994 was to qualify for the World Championships. The qualification process was based on World Zones, VTA finished sixth in the Asian Championships, and then finished 3^rd in the World Championship Tournament hosted by the Australian Volleyball Federation, and therefore failed to qualify, but did manage to re-establish their top four ranking in Asia. VTA then toured Europe with good results in the Minden Tournament in Germany (2^nd) and the Generale Bank Tournament in Belgium (6^th).

Australia's four national teams - senior and junior, men and women - all achieved a top 6 ranking in Asia for the first time (just five years earlier, none of them were in the Asian top 6).

South Australian teams win the most medals at the Australian National Championships, where second or regional teams from each State are allowed to enter for the first time. South Australia won the highest number of medals (10), but Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia and Queensland also won six medals each across the divisions. SA's superiority at the time was attributed to their very high quality of coaching, with SASI's Jiang Ying and Steve Tutton the only full time State coaches in Australia.

The National Schools Cup continued to grow, this year 270 teams (3000 competitors) represented 110 high schools across Australia, playing on 24 courts in Canberra.

The Australian women's indoor team competed in the prestigious "Beck��?s Cup" in Breman, Germany. They were defeated by Cuba, Germany and the Ukraine, but managed to take a set from the strong German team. The team also toured France where they played friendly matches against Clamart, the French Junior Team, RCF and Asnieres. In May, they also competed in the Princess Cup in Trang, Thailand coming away with a 5^th placing after 4 wins and 2 losses. They defeated Chinese Taipei, Japan Toyobo, the Philippines and China Hanan.

Sydney hosted an invitational Women��?s World Grand Prix Event where VTAW finished 4^th against Cuba, China and Japan.

The Australian men��?s team played between 50 and 60 international matches in the year. They travelled to China to compete against the strong provincial team and they were defeated 6 matches to 2 matches. They retained the Tasman Cup but lost the Aerolineas Argentinas Cup, lost the Sydney Cup to the Japanese National Team, played host to Spain. They toured Brazil and Argentina, Provincial China and hosted the Japan Universities team and for the first time defeated a Japanese Team winning the series 4 matches to 1.